The Swim Meet

Justice did it.  He swam both of the races he was scheduled to swim in his first swim meet.  He didn't quit, back out, or need to be pulled out of the water mid-race.  Thank goodness.

He was fine in the car on the way, so I wasn't anticipating any problems.  But then we pulled up to the location of the meet, and he took far too long to get out of the car.  He was getting nervous.  He is pretty comfortable at our local pool, but this was new territory.  This pool was huge.  It probably had 20 lanes, if not more.  There were a hundred kids.  It was busy, and wasn't his familiar stomping grounds.  His nerves quickly turned into panic and fear.  The water scared him, the black lines scared him, all of it scared him.  I thought for a second he was going to hyperventilate, or maybe even cry.  

But he didn't.  He saw his good friend Kaden, and he started to calm down a little.  He saw the little bitty six year old swimmers getting ready to race and then he was all right.  He stayed nervous right up until his first race and I honestly wasn't sure he was going to go through with it.  I knew that if he backed out of his first meet, he would never go back again.  I was praying he would be able to do it.  I was wishing desperately that The Coach was there, but he had to be at the Temple with our church youth group and couldn't come.  He was upset he couldn't be there, but had already committed to it before Justice joined the swim team.

So here I am, at this hot sweaty pool with Jack racing up and down the bleachers at warp speed, and the Angry Bird (previously known as The Vampire) is screaming at the top of his lungs.  Justice is chewing on whatever he can put in his mouth (because that's how he handles his anxiety, he's a chewer) and I'm certainly not sure whether he's going to swim or not.  

They called his race to meet over by the blocks, and he looked at me and said

"I can do this Mama, I know I can."

And I was a WRECK.

I was scared to death he was going to get halfway through the first length and panic and need to be pulled out of the water.  He would have been so terribly embarrassed.  I've had to dive in and pull him out before, even in street clothes.  Amen for that lifeguard certification I earned when I was a teenager.  I've used those skills more than once on Justice in the past year alone.  

And the race started, and he didn't even hesitate.  He dove right off the blocks and swam his heart out.  He got out of the pool and came right over to me and said, with tears in his eyes

"I DID IT!  Mama I did it!!"

And I was a WRECK.  

You can really see the happiness and emotion on his cute little freckled face.

And his next race went off without a hitch, and on the way home he told me he had FUN.  Yay.  Swimming is now fun instead of being the monster under his bed.  

With every other sport he participates in, he's always trying to WIN.  WIN, WIN, WIN.  It was a little refreshing to have the excitement for him in just finishing.  I don't think he even realized that he looked pretty good out there.  There were several heats of six swimmers per heat, so it's difficult to figure out where you fall out.  I actually thought he may have had a shot at placing in both races, but I didn't bring it up because for once he wasn't in WINNER mode and I was relishing the moment.  

Imagine his complete and total surprise when he placed 4th in the freestyle, and 5th in the breaststroke.

He's won a dozen or more 1st place awards in his short life, and has shown far less emotion than he did when he got these two ribbons.